Game 4 Recap: Colorado Avalanche 7, Ottawa Senators 1

I’m actually going to that game :D

Unfortunately the EDM MIN game went to OT/SO so it was a 3 point game. I’d like to see a low number of these in the division this year.

Nice. Career path of choice?

I missed a chunk of the first period chasing my dogs through the neighborhood. They’re evil. They’ll wait for me to turn corners before taking off again. Such a wonderful game. They’re 5 and 6, so have a few good years left in them. I think we need to spend more time at the park with the Frisbee.

Mine is 9, too, and like a typical lab, is as energetic as ever. They told me she’d slow down at 4. I’m still waiting.

During the summer he said he wasn’t good.

Where do you live?

Goes with the territory around here. In certain areas I just held down the “Z” button.

I know, thus the “so far”

amen…

not a whole lot of time to wait if the team starts losing though, such a tight conference every point matters

so what are Lindstom’s negatives???

We may want someone not so fat

Yeah, I don’t think of it like a curse, anyway. I think the trade was pretty good, not really the kind of thing that puts a curse on a team. It looks like Johnson will be the next captain, so I don’t think trading those two players was too much for someone who ends up the new captain.

way to go Shermeister……Shermalagga…..the Sherm…..I think I better go to bed now…getting sleep happy…

IF keyword “Avalanche”, “Broncos”, “Rockies”, “Nuggets”
THEN
Sort 1. “Avalanche”, 2. “Avalanche”, 3. “Avalanche”, 4. “Avalanche”

I’m no programmer.

for a veteran team I’m not sure it fits 100 % with this young Avs team. Confidence goes a long way. We all know the Avs have gobs of talent young, up and coming and old. The only thing this team needs to keep that talent going is confidence. It is games like this that help polish the kid’s egos and push them to play hard against the good teams. If the Avs make the 8th seed this year I would consider that a great accomplishment. They have the talent to do so. Confidence will get them there. Just gotta keep it going.

Yeah, the Sens were bad. However, the positive momentum this gives the team is a good thing. After the prolonged fail that was last year, a game like this near the beginning of the season has to go a long way to getting the offense’s confidence to return. We are such a young team that mind-games affect us drastically for better and worse. We don’t have the steadying vets in the locker room (well, we do have Duke and Giggy, but they’re pretty outnumbered), but we do have an explosive, young team that can get up and do amazing things when it believes in itself.

The biggest win tonight – the Avs forwards remembering how to score and having some of that confidence that they lost start to return.

You are 100% right. However, I will say that some things that impressed me with the Ottawa game are…

The Avs never let up. They never felt sorry for the opposition in this game, they kept coming in waves. In past years, that’s a game the Avs take the foot off the gas in the 3rd and ride it out.

The Avs didn’t get all the breaks in this one, I think they dominated all facets of the game like a professional team would against a really bad one. They dominated puck possesion. They cleared every single rebound and no Ottawa player was within five feet of a rebound against Jiggy.

The Avs showed an unbelievable pace for a traveling back to back roadie. That’s the prototypical back to back road game that most NHL teams lose. Avs not only looked energized, they seemed to get stronger as the game wore on. Ottawa looked like the tired team.

All great signs because 2 points against crappy teams gets you in the playoffs since roughly half of each conference makes the playoffs anyway. Beat the losers and you get in.

But yeah, that Ottawa team is the worst team the Avs have seen so far. But this is still the same Ottawa team that put 3 goals on Detroit, 5 on Toronto and 3 on the Wild.

Let’s see the Avs do this against a team that isn’t fucking horrible.

Counterpoint: realizing it was a horrible team, the Avs could have let up and cruised through the rest of the game thinking, “We got this.” The fact that they didn’t do that with a horrible team is what I liked. Not letting up on a good team would be expected, IMO. Not nearly as impressive.

The biggest thing for me this game, what stood out the most is that killer instinct. In the past the Avs had played down to their competition. They’ve played well against good teams and poorly against poor teams. That didn’t happen against Ottawa. They took it t o a bad team and beat them soundly. Yes it’s what they should have done, but too often over the past 3-4 seasons, they haven’t done that. Sure they had some issues in the second period, and a good team may have taken advantage of those mistakes. But it was the Sens, and the Avs hit them hard and fast all game long.

except the Boston game. I thought the Avs really took it to the defending champs for the most part, then tried to run out the clock at the end. As frustrating as it is, every single NHL team does it

If I can just make one counterpoint: For years, the Avs have played down to their opponents. A game against a bad team? Squeak by on a one goal lead or freaking lose. What I really, really liked was seeing them still trying to score goals with a minute left in the game. I want an Avs team with a killer instinct and that’s what I’m taking from the game.

It’s not really such a small sample size. In Colorado, yes, but the guy has excelled everywhere else he’s played. This is who he is. Obviously his save percentage won’t remain like .970 or whatever the hell it is but he can carry us when the rest of the team is lethargic, which was the majority of games 1-3.

is acceptable here…. Andy turned down Sherman’s generous 2 year deal. Sherman tried… Andy took it for granted. His pockets got deeper than his GAA as teh season wore on… finally the GAA echoed what he deserves to earn… which is still too much.

I ended up thinking about Valentines Day and feeling sorry for Ottawa.

 me too, especially after watching the ottawa player interviews, especially andy’s and then alfredsons. Im not a big alfredson fan, but he stuck up for Andy, said how he gave them a chance in the first and kept it close as long as he could with no help. And that made me feel sad and feel for those players, they must feel like shit for letting that happen to Andy in a game that was definitely important to him

I just can’t believe they didn’t pull him. Maybe he has spread some love in Ottowa already!

That’s because the Andy rippers are completely uninformed and have ZERO clue about what happened last year. It makes them feel better about themselves I guess. So be it.It’s over now

His play and comments post-trade last year hurt. A lot. So yeah, I was mad at him. But I’m over it now.

How do we know he thought he was “better than the contract the Avs offered”? Simply because he declined it? Do you know the details of the contract? How do we know any of that shit? I’ve never read a definitive story, only some “I heard there was something along the lines of ____ offered and Andy declined” but that’s IT. Considering the near Vezina level he played at for the majority of the season (and then the heroic playoff effort), I might have taken the chance on going to FA, too. What if the team said “Take this deal or gtfo”? Kind of a shitty thing for the team to do, right?

That’s my whole point. We’re holding something against a guy that we don’t know the details of what happened. Decisions were made and lines were drawn in the sand about something NONE OF US CAN EXPLAIN. Does nobody else see the sheer ridiculousness involved in that?

finding an identity would def help. I think if he finds he needs to be a grinder, bust his ass for the 8-10 min he is given a night then he will stick on this club and contribute in those limited minutes. Hopefully he understands that and just goes 110% when he’e on the ice.

Finally, the Avalanche website’s roster has pictures of the new players in Avalanche uniforms. Sad that I actually pay attention to that, I know…

So Mueller (and last year, Stewart) gets a free pass coming back from an injury, but Gali doesn’t?

The dude had a season ending injury last year and he’s still getting back into the swing of things. I think he needs just a little time. I’ve not given up on him yet. But if he doesn’t figure it out by the end of the year, I think he’ll be traded. The Avs like trading career reclamation projects for other ones. Mueller/Wolski. Stewart/EJ. Andy/Elliott. Some work, some don’t, but I predict that if Gali hasn’t established himself on one of the top 3 lines by the trade deadline, he’ll be traded for someone who might.